Psychometric Properties of the Teacher-Reported Motor Skills Rating Scale

Children’s early motor competence is associated with social development and academic achievement. However, few studies have examined teacher reports of children’s motor skills. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Motor Skills Rating Scale (MSRS), a 19-item measure of children’s teacher-reported motor skills in the classroom. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) support the validity of the three-factor structure of MSRS. The subscales of the MSRS were also associated with child academic and behavioral outcomes, with differences in the associations depending on the subscale. Only the Classroom Fine Motor skills subscale was uniquely associated with academic knowledge and mathematics achievement, whereas Body Awareness and Shapes and Letters were not significantly associated with either of the academic outcomes. Implications of the findings are discussed.